piran
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 posted on 14/8/09 at 09:14 AM |
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Roadcraft
Well for my 40th birthday present my other half arranged for me to have a full day (8:30 till 5) one on one performance car driving training, one year
on the car was complete enough to take the training so off I trundled yesterday, the forecast was for a nice dry day a little overcast but that should
keep the glare down. The forecast was wrong it was damp with showers all day so we got fairly damp but what a great day !
We started out on the roads looking at my technique and how that could be improved and then spent a few hours at the Millbrook proving ground where we
went on the skid pan to find out about the grip and how to control it when it gets away from you, we did seme cornering on another section spotting
where to aim for braking points and such, we went on the mile straight to do brake testing and then went on the Alpine route to bring it all together
- lots of up and down, corners with varying visibility and all that. Finally another session on the road to see how these were all applied ...
It was brilliant, not in the exciting way perhaps of getting to drive a dream car but in terms of actually learning how to get more out of my car and
how she behaves on the limit.
The car (which became as "the little green sports car" - the kids are now quoting from "faster, faster little red engine" )
behaved faultlessly and we thrashed it around for 230 miles and nothing fell off ! and in some ways it was probably better that it was wet as the
levels of grip she showed were pretty impressive and probably beyond my ability to find in the dry ! We were both impressed with her handling and
braking dynamics and at 200bhp per ton she was quick off the mark too 
So I highly reccomend Roadcraft it does cost more than these experience days but you get a lot out of it
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speedyxjs
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| posted on 14/8/09 at 10:53 AM |
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Sounds like you had a good time. It looks like a good idea for those of us who are not used to the power our little cars have
How long can i resist the temptation to drop a V8 in?
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piran
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| posted on 14/8/09 at 11:03 AM |
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yes it was good and the time at millbrook was good for finding where the limits were and what happened when it all went pete tong. It was also
reassuring that under emergency braking conditions the car kept in a straight line - the instructor was saying that some of the Caterhams he's
done the day with swap ends quite quickly under heavy braking as the rear wheels lock up with little loading on them.
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beaver34
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| posted on 14/8/09 at 05:11 PM |
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sounds fantastic, any ideas of the cost of a day like this?
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piran
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| posted on 16/8/09 at 10:49 AM |
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not sure as it was a present but I thiink it was a shade under £500 for the whole day in which we drove over 200 miles.
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